FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the structure of a typical side-by-side type refrigerator, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view illustrating a supporting structure for a door of a conventional refrigerator. As shown in FIG. 1, a main body 10 of the typical refrigerator has a refrigerating chamber 12 and a freezing chamber 14, which have open front faces, as storage spaces to store foodstuffs in a refrigerated state and a frozen state, respectively.
Further, the open front faces of the refrigerating chamber 12 and the freezing chamber 14 are opened and closed by a refrigerating chamber door 22 and a freezing chamber door 24, respectively. Each of the doors 22 and 24 is pivotably supported at upper and lower ends of either side of the door at a front face of the main body. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, a lower end surface of each of the doors 22 and 24 is formed with a hinge hole 26. In addition, a bracket 30 is fixed to a lower end of the front face of the main body 10 by means of a fixing means such as a fixing screw or bolt 32.
Further, the bracket 30 has a vertical fixing portion 30a fixed to the lower end of the front face of the main body, and a horizontal supporting portion 30b extending in a generally horizontal direction and forward from an upper end of the vertical fixing portion 30a. The horizontal supporting portion 30b of the bracket 30 is a portion that substantially supports each of the doors 22 and 24. A hinge bush 34 with a hinge shaft 34a that is inserted into the hinge hole 26 to pivotably support each of the doors 22 and 24 is fixed to an upper surface of the horizontal supporting portion 30b of the bracket 30. The hinge bush 34 may be configured variously so far as it can be fixed to and supported by the horizontal supporting portion 30b of the hinge bracket 30. Referring to the exemplary configuration of the hinge bush in the illustrated embodiment, the hinge shaft 34a of the hinge bush 34 is formed in a hollow shape, and is supported by inserting a supporting projection 30c extending upward from the upper surface of the horizontal supporting portion 30b of the hinge bracket 30 into the hollow of the hinge shaft. Further, if necessary, it is also possible to add an additional means for fixing the hinge bush 34 to the upper surface of the hinge bracket 30.
FIG. 2 shows the conventional exemplary configuration in which the lower end of each of the doors 22 and 24 is supported pivotably. Thus, the bracket 30 with the hinge bush 34 installed thereon pivotably supports each of the doors 22 and 24 while bearing up the weight of each of the doors 22 and 24. Further, although not shown, an upper end of each of the doors 22 and 24 is also pivotably supported similarly to the lower end of the door.
In the conventional refrigerator thus constructed, there is a disadvantage in that the freezing chamber door 24 and the refrigerating chamber door 22 may not be horizontally disposed at the same level due to assembly tolerance between the main body and the doors when they are assembled with each other, or either one of the doors 22 and 24 may be sagged downwardly due to fatigue loads resulting from repeated opening and closing of the doors by a user for a long period of time. That is, in the side-by-side type refrigerator shown in FIG. 1, it is preferred that the doors 22 and 24 be installed side by side with each other so that the both doors can be horizontally disposed at the same level. However, as described above, there are problems in that the case where the both doors are not horizontally disposed at the same level due to the assembly tolerance in an assembling process may occur, and the doors 22 and 24 may not be maintained in the horizontal state but sagged due to the weights of the doors and fatigue loads resulting from the repeated opening and closing of the doors during the use thereof for a long period of time, thereby causing variation in their heights.
Moreover, since the doors 22 and 24 of the conventional refrigerator have heights fixed at an initial assembly stage, there is a troublesome and inconvenient problem in that upon occurrence of the height deviation between the doors 22 and 24, the entire doors 22 and 24 are separated from the main body 10 and the position of the hinge bracket 30 should be corrected in order to correct the height variation.
It is preferred that a door of a refrigerator be maintained in a horizontal state. Particularly, since a pair of doors are installed side by side in a side-by-side type refrigerator, maintaining the doors in a horizontal state and at the same level is greatly required.